Posted by: Blog Administrator
on Dec 18, 2009
Tagged in:
winder stair ,
walled town ,
Victorian shop ,
Thames ,
Swindon ,
Saxon ,
rendered ,
passage ,
parlour ,
oldest houses ,
merchant’s house ,
in loco delicioso ,
History Centre. ,
High Street ,
hall ,
estate ,
Ermin Street ,
double-arched braced jointed cruck truss ,
delightful place ,
cruck timber frame ,
Cricklade ,
Cotswold ,
church house ,
capital messuage ,
blackened ,
ancient
Just recently I have been called to Cricklade, a lovely old Cotswold town north-east of Swindon. This Saxon walled town is situated at the highest navigable point of the Thames where it is crossed by Ermin Street. Its town crest bears the Latin words ‘in loco delicioso’ meaning ‘in a delightful place’.
We came to look at what might be one of the oldest houses in the High Street. From the rendered front, there is no indication at all that the interior hides an ancient blackened cruck timber frame.
The Cruck Truss
In fact, the façade is much as you would expect an early Victorian shop front to look – old multi-paned bay windows with thick moulded glazing bars. As soon as you open the front door you stare down a dark, narrow passage straight through to the old planked back door hung on heavy pintle hinges. To the left is a step down to the old, originally unheated parlour. In the end wall is a heavy beam – a mid-rail - which divided the framing into upper and lower panels, now replaced in stone. The upper room, traditionally the hall or parlour end, was reached by going back into the passage, going to the back and around the massive stone stack that was inserted c1600. Once in the hall the massive weight of an over-engineered ceiling is the first thing you notice. When the old open hall was improved with the addition of a proper chimney stack, floors were inserted, using the chimney breast as a support for one end of the ceiling beam – a typical arrangement for this kind of modification. To go upstairs a neat little winder stair was tucked in between the chimney stack and the outside wall, very steep and precipitous! You wonder how they ever got the furniture up there!
Upstairs, the room over the old hall has had its ceiling removed to show off the impressive double-arched braced jointed cruck truss which would originally have been seen from the ground. From inspecting the timber framing closely it is apparent that there was another separate timber framed house next to it, though you would never know this as the building there now is entirely of stone. To find out more please click on 'read more'.
